Under That Unforgiving Sun
by YouImploresME
Summary: John Marston was able to escape the betrayal at Beecher's Hope but he still has to find his family and once again attempt to escape from the past he could never erase.


_**There is a note at the end of this chapter, PLEASE read it when you are done. Thank you.**_

 _Now go. Git!_

Those words echoed through the mind of John Marston, the final words he said to his family before he sent them off. He was sure they would be the last words he would ever say.

"Give it up Marston!" Spat out the vindictive voice of Edgar Ross from the other side of the wooden barn. "You can't escape your past _or_ the law!".

John lightly pushed the door to get a glimpse of the congregation of military soldiers and federal agents alike waiting to shoot him down. Hesitating, he gripped his revolver ready to finish what he had started many years ago. He felt a rush of anxiety fall over him as he prepared for the events that were about to take place.

John heard the silent murmurings from the body of government men outside. "Give it up Marston, you can surrender now or we can send our men in to shoot you right now!".

Stopping to clear his mind for a moment and feeling an impending sense of dread in his stomach John darted his eyes around the barn looking for any alternative to the inevitable tragedy that was going to occur. It was when he looked over to his left that he noticed the opened box of matches he had dropped while lighting a cigarette before the shootout had started. Moving his view to the right of door he quickly noticed the lantern hanging besides it on a rusty nail.

Swiftly he crouched down and grasped the matches with his finger and then unhooked the lantern from its rusty mount as he started desperately scooting a small pile of dry hay with his boots. He silently broke the flimsy metalwork of the lamp and he placed it into the pile of hay in front of the large wooden doors.

While waiting for the kerosene to leak from punctures in the it a voice firmly yelled out. "Alright men lets round him up!". Knowing he didn't have any time to spare he quickly lit a match and flang it into the highly flammable mass of hay as he ran as fast as he could towards the back exit of the barn. The match landed on the kerosene igniting it almost instantly and the cheap lantern erupted into a ball of flames consuming the wood around it just as two soldiers burst through the door causing them to yell out in surprise.

Taking advantage of the ensuing fallout he forced himself to charge as quickly as he could only to be met with a cacophony of yelling and gunshots splitting the wood of the barn. Struck in the waist by a stray bullet John yelled out in pain and almost collapsed, fueled by adrenaline however he was able to push himself over the fence of the cowpen and scrambling up the mound of earth surrounding his home and made it out of eyeshot from Beecher's Hope.

He ran as far and as fast as he could away from his home but it was somewhere between two lone trees in the middle of Beecher's Hope and Blackwater that the aftermath of his running and the adrenaline beginning to wear off that the physical repercussions of the situation caught up to him. Sensing that he was going to lose consciousness if he didnt stop soon he weakly slumped down and propped himself up against a large rock facing away from a nearby dirt trail. Feeling extreme pain in the right side of his waist he dropped his head and saw the large amount of blood being soaked up by his ranch outfit. He silently let a slurred curse as he felt himself slowly begin black out.

-Meanwhile-

Jack could hear the yelling and gunshots resonating from Beecher's Hope. "Did you hear that? Jack, we have to go back for Pa!" his Maw called out from the back of his horse.

Gripping the reigns he harshly pulled to the left, causing the horse to suddenly turn back to the direction of gunshots. It didn't take long before they were able to see the burning remains of the farmhouse. Abigail let out an anguished gasp upon seeing it. Jack quickly got off his horse and ran towards the collapsing barn.

"Jack! Get back here!" Abigail called out towards him, trying to stop him before he got too close. Not listening to his mother he ran closer to his burning home until he saw government men walking out of the front door of the house. It was then that he noticed a plume of thick smoke filling the windows of the living room. Seeing the boy the man leading the group of agents pointed at Jack before saying something he couldn't hear. Realizing the severity of the situation he quickly stopped and turned around, running back to the horse as the men started to chase him.

"They're burning down the house Maw!" Jack cried as he struggled to mount his horse. "I think they saw me!". He fumbled to grab the reins of the horse before riding back towards the small wooden arch signifying where the entrance to Beecher's Hope was. Before he was able to do so however three soldiers came down the path rapidly towards them. "Work ya damn nag!" Jack yelled out to no avail. As the men fired shots near the horse it started tossing and turning before eventually throwing Jack and Abigail off the back of it as it dashed off back into Beecher's Hope.

Letting out a groan of pain Jack tried to push himself up from the dirt only to feel a boot harshly push down on his spine, shoving his face back into the worn dirt trail. With his limited vision from turning his head he saw four pairs of hooves gallop towards him. A man dismounted the horse and walked over to Jack, standing over him.

"I guess your whole family is full of fools" said the elderly sounding voice of Edgar Ross. "You _aga-"_ Abigail said before being cut off by the sound of her own coughing.

"I'll take the girl, you-" he said taking a break to smoke his cigar pointed at one of the men he walked out of the house with "-take the boy". Jack suddenly felt his hands and knees being restricted. "You won't get away with this you piece o-" Abigail was once again cut off but this time by the foot of Ross kicking her in the stomach. "Gag her too."

Jack felt himself being picked up and got a quick view of Ross once again taking a puff of his cigar before being roughly slammed down on the back end of a horse, forcing the air out of his lungs. As they started riding off Jack weakly pleaded with the man riding the horse. "Please mister I ain-" unknown to Jack the man had pulled out his revolver and hit him with the frame of the gun, knocking him out.

 _ **I'm sorry if the pacing for this chapter was a bit weird but I wanted to get a lot in before I knew if I should continue. If you enjoyed this and want to see more chapters I IMPLORE you to leave any indication, it means a lot. Also if you read this all the way through I just want to thank you. There have been some medical issues with a family member of mine so I could probably only update this once a week or so but feel free to leave ideas or suggestions. Thank you.**_

 _ **(I seriously can't stress how much I need people to share their opinions).**_


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